policy

brief

No. 2015-1 (Apr)

Ensuring the Triple Win of

Labor Migration in Asia
Paul Vandenberg, Senior Economist, ADBI

Key points

Labor migration
reduces structural
imbalances in regional
and global labor
markets.
Migrants find jobs not
available at home or
earn higher wages.
Receiving countries fill
vacancies and reduce
skill deficits.
Institutions in origin
and destination
countries are designed
to facilitate efficient
job matching and to
protect workers.
However, inadequate
enforcement of worker
protection results in
the abuse of workers in
some destinations.

Labor migration is a large and growing phenomenon in Asia as workers in origin

countries seek better paying jobs and employers in destination countries endeavor
to fill employment gaps. Domestic policies and bilateral agreements are necessary
to support efficient job matching, eliminate abuses in the recruitment process, and
protect the rights of workers abroad.

Labor migration in Asia

Nearly 1.4 million Filipinos migrated abroad for work in 2013. The outflow from
other Asian countries is lower but still substantial: over 0.6 million from both India
and Pakistan and over 0.5 million from Nepal (Herv 2015).1 These workers move
from poorer labor-surplus countries to wealthier labor-deficit economies. They are
motivated by better job opportunities and higher wages and, for some, the chance to
begin a new life as citizens of a new country. Wealthier countries, for their part, seek
to attract workers to fill employment gapseither high-skilled workers who add to
the human capital pool or low-skilled workers who fill jobs that are unattractive to
local workers. When the remittances sent back are factored in, labor migration creates
the so-called triple win with benefits for sending countries, receiving countries, and
the workers themselves.
The policies needed to generate benefits were discussed at the 5th ADBIOECDILO
Roundtable on Labor Migration: Building Effective Structures and Institutions for
Migration Governance. The event took place on 2830 January 2015 in Shanghai,
Peoples Republic of China (PRC), with participants from 15 economies. Key issues
and policy suggestions arising from the discussion form the basis of the analysis
below.

Temporary nature of migration

2015 Asian Development

Bank Institute
ISSN 2411-6734

This work is licensed under a

Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
International License.

Most Asian labor migration is temporary, lasting from a few months to several years.
Migrants do not settle and become citizens, but work as foreigners and leave when
their contracts are completed. Governments in sending and receiving countries have
designed a range of policies, institutions, and bilateral agreements in an attempt to
protect their citizens both in the process of migration and at the foreign workplace.
Despite these arrangements, many problems and abuses continue to occur and
require renewed policy action.
5th ADBI-OECD-ILO Roundtable on Labor Migration in Asia: Building Effective
Structures and Institutions for Migration Governance
28-30 January 2015
Shanghai, Peoples Republic of China
The event was hosted by the Asia-Pacific Finance and Development Center in Shanghai.
Presentation materials are available at http://www.adbi.org/event/6531.5th.roundtable.
labor.migration.asia/?sectionID=35

Migration from Asia to high-income

economies such as the United
States and Europe is less likely to be
temporary and is more likely to involve
permanent settlement. In such cases, the
arrangements are less complex because
immigrants become new citizens who
are fully protected by domestic labor
laws and are no longer the responsibility
of the origin country.

a job vacancy through social networks

then often migrate through one of these
channels.
G2G approach: Governments in sending
and receiving countries can manage the
migration process themselves and avoid
the use of private recruiters. A worker
applies to a government agency in his
or her country for a job that an employer

Despite arrangements between sending and receiving

countries, many problems and abuses continue to occur
and require renewed policy action
The key policy roles for government
focus on (i) the recruitment function of
organizing a fair and efficient system to
transfer workers between countries; and
(ii) the protection function of ensuring
that migrants are able to work in the jobs
they were offered, with decent wages
and working conditions.

Recruitment: Ensuring an
efficient flow of workers
Workers migrate through a variety of
channels and institutional arrangements.
Governments may take a commanding
role in both the sending and receiving
country, but migration often occurs
through private recruitment agencies
(and subagencies, brokers, or sponsors)
or with the aid of social networks of
family and friends (ILO 2015). In Asia,
recruitment tends to take place
through one the following channels:
(i) direct government-to-government
(G2G) schemes; (ii) private agencies or
agents that are regulated and offer a
legal channel; (iii) illegal channels that
often involve unlicensed recruiters,
sponsors, or brokers; (iv) directly by
employers or through internet portals;
or (v) government programs promoting
the recruitment of foreign students and
national returnees. Those who identify

ADBI Policy Brief No. 2015-1 (Apr)

has registered with a government agency

in another country. Working under a
bilateral agreement, the two agencies
match the worker to the vacancy. The
intermediary is cut out of the process.
The Republic of Korea has a wellmanaged Employment Permit System
(EPS) based on the G2G model. It was
set up in 2004 and gradually replaced
the Industrial Trainee System of 1993
which had resulted in irregularities in the
sending process and many illegal stays.
Illegal stays dropped from 80% in 2003
under the old system to 16% in 2014
under the new system. The Republic of
Korea has 15 bilateral agreements with
sending countries based on this system
(Government of the Republic of Korea
2015).
Use of private recruiters: More
commonly, private recruiters provide
the channel through which workers are
matched to vacancies. Some are large
companies with a good track record of
ethical recruitment practices. Others are
small or medium-sized enterprises that
are also formally licensed. In addition,
a range of unlicensed or unregistered
recruitment
agencies,
operators,
subagents, and brokers also exist.
As profit-making businesses, some

recruitment companies cannot resist

the temptation to engage in abusive
practices, notably in charging high fees
and not delivering the worker to the
promised job.2 These practices can be
tackled through effective regulation of
recruiters. Governments may also decide
to shift to a G2G model and reduce the
use of recruiters.
The Philippines is a major origin country
and has developed an effective system to
manage recruiters (Fig. 1). The Philippines
Overseas Employment Administration
(POEA) is responsible for registering and
licensing recruitment agencies (Lanto
2015). Unlicensed recruiters cannot
participate in the migration process.
POEA screens the qualifications of the
agencys owners and operators, ensures
the agency is adequately capitalized, and
assesses the agencys performance. An
agency not abiding by regulations or
engaging in unscrupulous practices can
be penalized and ultimately disqualified
through the suspension or cancellation
of its license. POEA also monitors the
charging of placement fees on workers.
The Philippines prohibits the charging
of a placement fee for domestic (i.e.,
household) workers and for workers

Fig. 1 Flows of workers to ASEAN countries by origin and

destination, 20122013
250

No. of workers (000)

200
150
100
50

Pakistan

2012

Sri Lanka

India

2013

Viet Nam

Bangladesh

2012

Lao PDR

Nepal

2013

Cambodia

Indonesia

2013

Thailand

Philippines

2012

2013

2012

2011

2012

2013

Origin country
to Singapore

to Malaysia

to Thailand

Previous year

ASEAN = Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Lao PDR = Lao Peoples Democratic
Republic .
Source: Herv (2015).

Ensuring the Triple Win of Labor Migration in Asia

bound for countries in which placement

fees are officially prohibited. However,
effective enforcement of these
regulations remains a challenge.
Illegal channels and unlicensed
recruiters: Undocumented migration
poses a more difficult problem for
policymakers. By its very nature, it
involves the illegal migration and
employment of workers. These migrants
are not protected by labor law and their
recruiters are unregulated. Combating
illegal migration is not easy, especially
between adjacent countries with porous
borders. There are three main policy
interventions that can help. First, workers
can be educated in sending countries
on the benefits of legal migration
and the dangers of going the illegal
route. Government agencies in sending
countries canand doprovide such
instruction in predeparture seminars,
although by this stage workers have
normally already decided to use the
legal route. However, it may prevent
them from using illegal recruiters or
remaining illegally in the country after
contract expiry. Second, governments
can provide migration procedures
that are clear, straightforward, and
affordable, thus increasing the benefit
of taking the legal route.
And third, receiving countries can
undertake periodic regularization or
amnesty campaigns to legalize the
status of illegal workers. Thailand began
such a national verification program in
2010. The number of illegal migrants
was officially estimated at 1.27 million
in 2011, with all but 2% from the three
neighboring countries of Cambodia,
the Lao Peoples Democratic Republic,
and Myanmar. That number dropped
substantially as workers entered the
verification process. In late 2014,
an estimated 1.6 million workers and
92,000 dependents were undergoing
verification (Rojananan and Bamrungsuk
2015).

Private employers and internet

portals: Employers can also recruit
directly themselves without the
use of recruiters. Once a worker is
identified, arrangements can be made
for the worker to obtain the necessary
employment visa. The internet has
become a powerful tool for recruitment
as vacancies can be advertised and
viewed around the globe. To ensure that
workers are being recruited by reputable
employers, the latter can be accredited
by the labor attach at the embassy of
the sending country.

Fig. 2 Number of foreign students enrolled in the world and Asia

Worldwide (million)

2.1

2.4

2.1

2.6

2.8

3.1

3.0

3.2

3.5

3.8

4.2

4.4

4.5

Asia (000)

335

1999

2000

327

366

384

432

458

486

536

587

657

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2001

726

2010

772

2011

806

2012

Source: Herv (2015).

Recruiting skilled talent (students,

professionals, and returnees): Many
countries seek to attract high-skilled
talent, including foreign students
already living in the country (Fig. 2) and
its own citizens who have gone abroad
and are encouraged to return. These
groups have good skills and knowledge
and can contribute to the talent of the
receiving country. In the case of returning
nationals, their move back is an effort to
reverse the brain drain. Foreign students
are a good source of talent because they
know the country already and may have
acquired local language skills. There is
no travel cost for them to stay and the
migration procedure may be simpler in
that it only involves changing their status
from student to worker.

ADBI Policy Brief No. 2015-1 (Apr)

Governments actively encourage

migration from these talent pools.
In recent years, Japan has sought to
attract more foreign students and
encourage them, along with other
foreign professionals, to stay and find
work in Japan. The Plan for 300,000
Exchange Students was launched in
2008 with the goal of reaching its target
by 2020. There has been some success
in the early stages with the number of
foreign university students increasing
from 124,000 when the plan was
launched to 136,000 by 2013. Students
are encouraged to apply for jobs
near the time of graduation. To help
them, the government has established
Employment Service Centers for
Foreigners which list vacancies and
provide assistance in applying for jobs.
The centers are linked with the national
network of public employment offices.
The government has also appointed
international student coordinators,
each of whom focuses on attracting
students from a specific region of
the world. Center officials also make
frequent visits to campuses in Japan to
discuss job prospects and procedures
with foreigners (Government of Japan
2015).
Taipei,China is also keen to attract
and retain highly-skilled foreigners
(Lin 2015). Its three-pronged strategy
includes relaxing salary restrictions for
foreigners, providing access to highlevel research and development (R&D)
opportunities, and targeting foreign
students at its universities. There were
33,000 foreign students in 2013, more
than half of whom were overseas Chinese
and many of the others were studying
at Mandarin centers. A points system
was introduced in mid-2014, along with
eased documentation requirements, to
encourage foreign students to stay. A
total of 70 points are needed to qualify
for work and already 30 points are given
for those who hold a doctorate and 20
points for those with a masters degree.

The PRC is encouraging the return of

citizens who have gone overseas to
study and work. This effort to reverse the
perceived brain drain was begun with the
Thousand Talents Program in 2008, which
targeted highly educated scientists,
academicians, and businesspeople with
job offers and incentives. Subsequent
programs have sought to also attract
young people and non-Chinese, such
as the Thousand Young Talents Program
(2010), the Thousand Foreign Experts
Program (2011), the Special Talent
Zone (2011), and the enlarged Ten
Thousand Talent Plan (2012). Many senior
academicians are retunees from overseas
study, including 81% of those at the
Chinese Academy of Sciences and 54%
at the Chinese Academy of Engineering
(Wang 2013).3 The majority of heads of
medical schools and top quality hospitals
are returnees.

Ensuring decent working

conditions
Poor working conditions are not
uncommon for migrants and are
highlighted by two recent highprofile cases. One involves migrants
constructing stadiums for the 2022
FIFA World Cup, an international
football tournament to be held in Qatar.
Nepalese workers were reported to be

Fig. 3 Outflow of workers from selected Asian countries,

20062013

No. of workers (000)

1,400

Philippines

1,200

India

1,000

Bangladesh

800

Indonesia

600

Pakistan

400

Sri Lanka
Nepal

200

Cambodia

0
2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

Source: Herv (2015).

Ensuring the Triple Win of Labor Migration in Asia

2012

2013

dying at the rate of one every 2 days

in 2014, mostly as a result of cardiac
arrest that some attribute to working
long hours in 50-degree heat (Guardian
2014). Indian and Bangladeshi
workers have also suffered from these
conditions. Many workers are also not
paid on a monthly basis. The other case
concerns Erwiana Sulistyaningsih, an
Indonesian domestic worker in Hong
Kong, China who was severely beaten
by her employer. The employer was
subsequently convicted on 18 charges
including causing grievous bodily harm,
criminal intimidation, and nonpayment
of wages (Guardian 2015). While this
is an extreme case, it has highlighted
the plight of other domestic workers
in Asia.
The maltreatment of workers can take
various forms. One problem is the
withholding of documents, notably
passports, by the employer. This
gives the employer the opportunity
to mistreat the worker in others ways
because the worker does not have the
option to flee. Other common problems
are excessive length of the work day, lack
of a weekly rest day, lack of movement
outside the home on nonwork days,
lower wages than promised (and below
the official minimum wage), verbal and
physical abuse, and no or restricted
trade union rights. In many cases, the
practices infringe domestic labor laws.
Regulation and enforcement in the
country of employment and bilateral
agreements can reduce the occurrence
of these transgressions.
Predeparture preparation: Given the
large number of Asians migrating
abroad (Fig. 3), several measures can
be taken prior to departure to increase
the likelihood that workers will have
a good work experience. Information
seminars, provided by the government
in sending countries, inform workers
of their rights and how to seek redress.
In addition, employment contracts

can be screened by the governments

overseas
migrant
employment
agency to ensure that it contains
the full protections in the employer
employee
relationship.
Some
governments provide model contracts
and encourage their use. Finally,
government agencies in sending
countries can track employers who
are the subject of major complaints
by returning workers. And potential
migrants can be discouraged from
accepting employment with them. The
worst offenders can be blacklisted.

Philippines requires a BLA to be in place

for it to send workers to another country.
It currently has 107 such agreements in
place with 79 countries. Just under half
are general agreements while another
45 are seafarers agreements and the
remainder consists of social assistance
agreements. The Philippines signed a BLA
with Saudi Arabia in 2014 that stipulates,
among other things, a minimum monthly
wage (US$400), a ban on the withholding
of passports and other documents, and
the freedom for domestic workers to
move outside the household.

Foreign students are a good source of talent because

they know the country already and may have acquired
language skills
Adequate labor laws in receiving
countries: Workers are best protected
by adequate labor laws and regulations
in receiving countries. It is necessary that
these laws apply to foreign workers. While
legal migrants are generally protected
by domestic laws, this is not always the
case. Some countries have made specific
efforts to ensure that all workers receive
protection. For example, Thailand has
made it clear that its minimum wage,
which has increased significantly in
recent years, applies to all workers,
including migrants. Even when labor
laws are in place, however, abuses can
go undetected. This is especially true for
domestic work, in which the workplace is
the employers home and not monitored
through regular labor inspection, and the
workers may be explicitly excluded from
regulations on wages and working hours.
Bilateral agreements: Sending countries
can reinforce labor law by negotiating
and agreeing memorandums of
understanding (MOUs) or, better yet,
bilateral labor agreements (BLAs).4 These
can stipulate recruitment procedures and
labor standards for foreign workers. The

ADBI Policy Brief No. 2015-1 (Apr)

Labor attachs: Governments of

sending countries can assign labor
attachs to the embassies or consulates
in countries to which they send a large
number of migrants. These attachs
can help migrants with information and
advise them of their rights and options
for recourse.
Temporary ban: If labor regulations are
frequently violated, a sending country
may take the ultimate step of banning
migration to a specific country. This
extreme recourse should only be taken
after adequate bilateral discussion and
possible revision of the MOU or BLA. This
tactic should not be employed lightly, as
a ban can penalize the many migrants
that want to work in these countries
and are able to secure good working
conditions. A ban might be temporary
and used to encourage a receiving
country to address and correct problems.
For example, in 2011 Cambodia banned
domestic workers from working in one
of its neighboring countries. Since then,
the two countries have been negotiating
a new MOU to offer stronger migrant
protection.

Conclusion
Labor migration can play a beneficial
role in reducing the structural
imbalances in regional and global labor
markets. Sending countries benefit from
remittances while receiving countries
can fill job vacancies and skill deficits.

The migrants themselves can find jobs

that are not available at home or earn
higher wages. While these push and pull
factors create strong market pressures for
migration, governments on both sides
have important roles to play in matching
workers with jobs and ensuring decent
working conditions.

Notes
1.
2.
3.
4.

The figures are based on national sources. Migration flows and stocks are difficult to
estimate. The total stock of Asian migrants in other countries (Asian and non-Asian) is
estimated at 64 million in 2010 (authors calculation based on World Bank 2015).
The cost of migration can equal between 2 and 10 months of wages on average,
meaning that much of a migrants initial wages are spent on recovering the cost of
migrating (ILO, n.d.).
These statistics refer not just to those who returned under the various programs cited.
There are also regional and international initiatives. These include the ILOs Private
Employment Agencies Convention (No. 181) which was agreed in 1997. It bans private
employment agencies from charging fees or costs to workers. However, it has been
ratified by only 28 countries, including only two from Asia (Fiji and Japan).

Ensuring the Triple Win of Labor Migration in Asia

References*
Government of Japan. 2015. Japans Polices for Attracting Highly Skilled Foreign Professionals. In Building
Human Capital through Labour Migration in Asia. Prepared by Foreign Workers Affairs Division, Ministry
of Health, Labour and Welfare. Tokyo: ADBI, ILO, and OECD. pp. 2733.
Government of the Republic of Korea. 2015. Infrastructure and Service for EPS Workers in Korea. Presentation
by the Ministry of Employment and Labour at the 5th ADBIOECDILO Roundtable on Labor Migration
in Asia, Shanghai, Peoples Republic of China, 2830 January.
The Guardian. 2014. Death Toll among Qatars 2022 World Cup Workers Revealed. 23 December. http://www.
theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/23/qatar-nepal-workers-world-cup-2022-death-toll-doha
The Guardian. 2015. Hong Kong Maids Employer Found Guilty of Severe Physical Abuse. 10 February. http://
www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/10/hong-kong-maids-employer-found-guilty-of-abuse
Herv, P. 2015. Trends in Labor Migration in Asia. In Building Human Capital through Labor Migration in Asia.
Tokyo: ADBI, ILO, and OECD. pp. 117.
International Labour Organization (ILO). 2015. Realizing a Fair Migration Agenda: Labour Flows between Asia
and the Arab States Issues Paper: Recruitment. Unpublished draft document.
ILO. n.d. Six Point Agenda on Improving Recruitment. Bangkok: ILO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific.
Lanto, N. 2015. Labour Migration Support in the Philippines. Presentation at the 5th ADBIOECDILO
Roundtable on Labor Migration in Asia, Shanghai, Peoples Republic of China, 2830 January.
Lin, G-M. 2015. Professional Migration: Reformed Work-Permit System for Foreign Graduates. Presentation at
the 5th ADBIOECDILO Roundtable on Labor Migration in Asia, Shanghai, Peoples Republic of China,
2830 January.
Rojananan, J., and N. Bamrungsuk. 2015. Labour Migration in Thailand. Presentation at the 5th ADBIOECD
ILO Roundtable on Labor Migration in Asia, Shanghai, Peoples Republic of China, 2830 January.
World Bank. 2015. Bilateral Migration Matrix 2010. http://econ.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/EXTDEC/EXT
DECPROSPECTS/0,,contentMDK:22803131~pagePK:64165401~piPK:64165026~theSitePK:476883,00.
html
Wang, H. 2013. Chinas Return Migration and Its Impact on Home Development. UN Chronicle, Vol. L,
No. 3, September. http://unchronicle.un.org/article/chinas-return-migration-and-its-impact-homedevelopment/
*

The Asian Development Bank refers to China by the name Peoples Republic of China.

Asian Development Bank Institute

ADBI, located in Tokyo, is the think tank of the Asian Development Bank
(ADB). Its mission is to identify effective development strategies and
improve development management in ADBs developing member countries.

ADBI encourages printing or copying information exclusively for personal

and noncommercial use with proper acknowledgment of ADBI. Users are
restricted from reselling, redistributing, or creating derivative works for
commercial purposes without the express, written consent of ADBI.

ADBI Policy Briefs are based on events organized or co-organized by ADBI.

The series is designed to provide concise, nontechnical accounts of policy
issues of topical interest, with a view to facilitating informed debate.

Asian Development Bank Institute

Kasumigaseki Building 8F
3-2-5 Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda-ku
Tokyo 100-6008
Japan
Tel: +813 3593 5500
www.adbi.org

The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do
not necessarily reflect the views and policies of ADBI, ADB, or its Board or
Governors or the governments they represent.

ADBI Policy Brief No. 2015-1 (Apr)